Photo

In this photo taken and released on Aug. 27, 2010 by Japan's Justice Ministry, the trapdoor where a condemned criminal is to stand is wide open downward in an execution room at Tokyo Detention Center when the local media are allowed a rare tour of Tokyo's main gallows in a bid to create more public awareness about capital punishment. Three death row inmates in Japan were executed by hanging on Thursday, March 29, 2012, the country's first executions in more than a year and a half. Japan, along with the United States, is one of the few industrialized countries that still has capital punishment. The room behind the glass window is for witnesses to stand and observe the execution. (AP Photo/Justice Ministry) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NO CROPPING ALLOWED
/ AP